Collapsible mash feeder



Jan. 27, 1931.

w. D. HARVEY 1,790,045

COLLAPSIBLE MASH FEEDER Filed March '14, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l fnvenL ar A WQV Jaq. 27, 1931. w, 1 HARVEY 1,790,045

' COLLAPSIBLE. MASH FEEDER Filed March 14. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f8 A Dow /7 dfl/) WJ QQ,

Patented Jan. 27, 1 931 UNITED-STATES 7 WIL IAM comm-stem irAs frEEnEn V f Application and Mama14,192a seri 1 no. 261,447.

f My inventionrelates to feeders of the general'type in which mash or .the-likeis fed by :gravity from the lower end of an upright f containerrinto a, pan." Such ;-feeders have heretofore been used with satisfaction by :chicken raisers, in small sizedjtypes. having a V s ngle'piece tube as the major portion; of the container.

However, an enlarging" of such feeders to a considerably 1 greater storing and feeding capacity has :not proven s'osatisfactory with v a single-piece.container tube, 'for' these reasons first, because of the bulky packaging requiredforthe container, which unduly increases the packing .andshippingexpenses.

7 Second, because of the gre atly' increased risk of damage instran'sit' to such vfeeders unless heavyerating or boxing is used toprotect the container of the feeder. Andthird, because.

the bulkiness'jof the feeder requires anundesirablylarge storage space forthern both at the factory and at the dealers? establishments.

j My inventionaimstoovercome all of these objectsf by providingla'feeder of this class in which the container is collapsible into arelatively small form, so as to reduce the space; required for storing it, and also to reduce the packing and shipping costs as well as the risks of damagein transit; Furthermore,it aims to provide a feeder including a collapsible feeder constructed 'so that its constituent sections interfit 'even-when'the feeder is collapsed, thereby reinforcing each "other "against damage inItransitQ S0 also,'m'y invention" aims'to provide simple effective means for supportingthe container-from its juppersection so that gravity will expandit,

and to provide means for supporting thepan in proper relation to the lower. end of the container, and aims to provide .these supporting means in an arrangement which pen ,mits their compact packing while alfording 7 an easy erection of the feeder.

bottom sections of-the container forholding all of the sections in alinement- Still further and-also more detailed objects i i ill appear r m t e followi g p fi o bersmountedon the pan;

Dow HARVEY, or iaAc'oMB,xLmnorsi-nssxenoa 'ro ERIclinv s'rEiiL mn- ,UQTS 00., or MnooMB, ILLINOIS, aoonronarronor ILLINOIS ande from the accompanying drawing, in

.-which v Figgjl is a centralgandvertical section through a fee'derembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlargement of a portion of Fig. 1, showing the disposition of, parts-adj acent to theupperend-of one'of the supporting members.

. ,Fig. Sis an enlargement of another portion Fig zfi -is a central and verticalfsec tion l through another feeder embodying my invention ',"namely1one in which the2pan seats on the ground and 1n whlch itt-hIfQQ-SBQUOII contalner 1s suspendedfrom support1ng mem- Fig. 6-is1a fragmentary section showing another arrangement of a lower portion'o-fa feeder of the general type of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7

tures of my inventiom namely one. adapted ,to be suspendedfrom a ceiling and in which I collapsed telescopicallyinto one another so is a central and verticalsection through another embodiment of certain ,fea-

tions .(numb ered from-1 to 5) which can: be

that their jointpackaged height will be sub-,

stantially that of a single one of these sections. Each sectionis a generally cylindrical tube of somewhat smalleroutside diameter above the lowestone has atyits lower end an outwardly' directed flange 7 which slidably .section below the top one has its upper end bent radially inward to. form" aninward than the'nextlower section, and'each section fits the bore of the next lower section. Each flange 6 overhanging theoutwardly directed flange 7 thebottom of the next higher sec tion inthe expanded container, as shownin Figs 2 and 3. Y

Underhanging: thev se inr flii" 1 11 which has its bottom 8 underhanging the lower end of the container, and which has To support both the container and the-pan rigidly in their above described disposition, l employ .a plurality of ,detachablesnppgirting members spaced circnmferentially. of; the

container. In Figs. 1'to' 4, each of't'he'se supporting members consists of twee-parts, one being a lower portion including a leg 10 fastened to the side 9 of the pan byadetachable" bolts 11, and an inwardly bent upper spacer Portion 12 which" is connected "to then p bar portion 18 of the supporting member a detachable boltj14, This bolt 14' preferably has its shank spaced from the int-urned'upper end flange 6 on the lowest section 5 by a disthickness of the outwardlydirected-flange? on the lower end of the next section 4. j

The upper end'of the bar portion13jis secured to the top section 1 of-the container by a bolt 15,-and the length of-the bar is preferably such that whenthus connected-to the top section, the container-will be expanded by zgravity andwill have-its-lower'end disposed somewhat below the upper end-of the If desirecl,-my supporting' members' and their connections may also be arrangedito clamp certain adjacent sections radially to each other. Thus, Fig. 3shows the nut 14A of each bolt-1 4; as of sufl'icientdiameter to engage the inner face of the second 'lowest section 4, so that, the tightening of this bolt will clamp the upper portion of thefllowest container section 5" tightly between 'the'lower I end portion of the next'section' 4 and the upper part of the said spacer portion 12of the adjacent supporting nember. The upper end of'the container may be closed by any suitable cover 16, and the top' 'section ,1 of the container preferably hashandles ,17 by means of which the container can readilybe lifted and expanded, these handles being inwardly directed so-asnot to interferewith' the collapsing of the container{ When the feeder is erected, the container is suspended from the supporting members and gravity holds it expanded, with the flanges of adjacent sections seated on each'other.

By constructingeach of the supporting 'members of a plurality-of parts, I reduce the space'required for storing and packingthem,

and I can also employlowersupport portions of different lengthsinterchangeable for varying the height of the pan above the floor.

* However, I -do not'wish to be limited to a two-piece construction of the supporting members, nor to the extendingof the connecting bolts 14 through a container section (as shown in Figs. 1 and 3),inorto other details of the construction and arrangement above described, since many changes may be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims;

' For example, Fig. 5 shows an embodiment of my invention'in which the'pan 1 8i-seats on the floor and has the recurved lower ends of singl -piece. supporting members 19 detach- [ably bolted to it, with the container suspendbent portion 2OA-iatathe lower end ofithe supporting member; 20, shows this-as secured to the curvedside of a pan 21.by= two bolts 22; tance which is only'slightly greater than the Fig. 7 shows .a feeder comprising threesections. (-'23,'24 and 25) having fiat 'interengaging end flanges, and a bale 26 connectedto the top section 23 so thatthe'entire feeder canbe'suspended fromthis balej- :Tliepan 27 is supported'from the lower-section 25by suspending members 28, and in this case-the bale26 form's the means whichare manually grasped'to expand the collapsed'containcr.

I:claim.as"1ny inventionr'.

T: 1; A feeder for-mash or thelike,"irrclnding a vertically" collapsible upright tubular con- :wtainer composed of'sections e'aoh'of which is smaller-in diameter than thesectionaleove it, each section above thelou' es't onehaving ijtsc lower end disposed within and -;sm'aller in outside diameter than the nextlower seccontainer rigidly distended:

23A. feeder as per claim 1, in which-each I lowermost, container section but extends freely past the intermediate sections: v I

. 8. A feeder as per'claimv 1, including an inwardly projecting handle on the ,top,.section of thecontainer whereby the initially collapsed container may be upwardly distended prior to the fasteninglof the saidrig 10f therigid members issecured also to the end, and in whicheach section above'the bot- 1 tom section has an outwardly directed flange underhangin'g the flange on the upper end or the next lower section, whereby the said out wardly directed flange on one section limits the downward sliding of thenext lower section and support-sthe latter section.

5. A feeder for mash or the like, comprising a vertically collapsible and upright con tainer comprising interlocking superposed sections constructed so as to be expanded by gravity when lifted from its upper end, a

pan having its bottom underhanging the container, and supporting means connected to p the top section of the container for supporting the container and pan, the supporting means being disposed outside the'container and extending freely past intermediate sec tions of the container.

6. Afeeder as per claim 1, in which the supporting means. comprise plural members spaced circumferentially ofthe feeder; each such member comprising two portionsex Y tending respectively upward and downward from the lowest container section, and a de tachable fastening member securing the two portions of such member conjointly to each other and to two sectionsof the container."

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, March 8th, 1928.

WILLIAM' DOW HARVEY. 

